A study of cancer incidence and age at immigration among Japanese and whites in the United States

Research Project

Project/Area Number	01042001
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for international Scientific Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	Special Cancer Research
Research Institution	Gifu University
Principal Investigator	SHIMIZU Hiroyuki Gifu University School of Medicine, 医学部, 教授 (90073139)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	ROSS Ronald K. University of Southern California School of Medicine, 医学部, 教授 YATANI Ryuichi Mie University School of Medicine, 医学部, 教授 (80024636)
Project Period (FY)	1989
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1989)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000) Fiscal Year 1989: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Keywords	Prostate cancer / Breast cancer / Age at immigration
Research Abstract	Using age-adjusted incidence rates and proportional incidence ratios, the risks of prostate cancer and breast cancer in two race-ethnicity groups -- Spanish surnamed whites and Japanese -- were studied in Los Angeles County native residents and compared with those in immigrants and representative "homeland" populations. Prostate cancer rates of immigrants were similar to those of US born in the Spanish surnamed white and Japanese populations, regardless of age at immigration. When migration occurred later in life, rates for breast cancer were substantially lower than when migration occurred early; they were still much higher than in the homeland populations. These findings suggest that environmental factors in childhood are especially important in the etiology of breast cancer and that later life events can substantially impact the likelihood of developing clinically detectable prostate cancer.